African Traditional Metaphysics

Our attempt in this paper
is to reconstruct African traditional Metaphysics. The main problematic has to
do with whether we can in any meaningful and coherent manner talk about a
traditional metaphysics that covers or incorporates the inevitable nuances that
go with cultural and individual differences. We have adopted the principles of
charity where in hermeneutical studies we are allowed to carry out our
interpretation with some sense of liberalism and assumption which is not
harmful to the letter and spirit of interpretation.

We have therefore assumed
that all Africans are bound to have more in common than with people of other
continents. We have used Nigeria and Ghanaas representative cultures in this studiy. We have attempted understanding the
basis of African traditional metaphysics which has to do with ‘Being’ and its
ontological appurtenances like personality, substance, etc, and to see how they
differ from the western conception of Being. We examined the vitalist element
of African traditional metaphysics and came to the conclusion that African
traditional metaphysics includes and transcends the western explanatory
indices. While the west limit their enquiry to experience and reason, the
African go beyond that to employ extra empirical and extra-ratiocinative means
often called extra-sensory perception (ESP).

Introduction

The subject of African Metaphysics
is a very broad and far reaching inquiry. In any case, there are two strategic
hurdles to overcome. First, is how we can meaningfully talk about African Metaphysics?
Second, is how we can cover the breadth and depth of African Metaphysics in
one fell swoop and for that matter in a short treatise like this? Perhaps the
consoling goad is the fact that no work can claim to say all that needs be said
on any subject matter. What is important in any given work is to have a clear
vision of what is intended to achieve. In this light, we feel persuaded that
these hurdles can be safely handled and overcome.

Much has been said on
different aspects of metaphysics. We cannot however pretend to have a fixed
corpus of perception and articulation which we call African Metaphysics. What
we attempt therefore to do is to carry out some intellectual stock – talking on
African Metaphysics in these intervening years. Defining the focus of our work
will allay the fears of scholars like Paulin Hountondji who smell a rat any
time attempt is made to talk of African philosophy as a static, collective and
ideological set of beliefs which lie in the immutable sail of the African
people.

In his African philosophy – Myth
and Reality, Hountondji decried the vogue of perceiving African
philosophy as a collective of immutable and definitive believe which are
abstracted from history and progress. (Hountondji 33). He says that our
ideological definition of philosophy is what is normally called to use when
examining African philosophy. This leads to our seeing philosophy as any kind
of wisdom, individual or collective, any set of principles presenting some
decree of coherence and intended to govern the daily practice of a man or
people. As Wiredu and Oladipo have noted, ideology can be perceived both in a
degenerate sense as “a set of ideas about what form the good society must
take.” (Oladipo 73-74).

We must state that our attempt is
not directed at speculating on the ideological roles of philosophy that is
immutable, homogenous and hidden in the consciousness of the African people.
This is also not to say that the unanimity question is totally baseless. A
cultural philosophy must have certain underlying logic and understanding.
However, it will be a mark of intellectual philistinism to continue to hold
that all Africans conceive reality woof and weft from exactly the same
perspective. What we have are similar out-looks which enjoy a higher semblance
than with views outside the African sub-region.

Our target is to look at the “score
board” to see how we stand with the spate or write-ups on African metaphysics
or aspects of African metaphysics. This will enable us to count our gains and
losses as we continue in this business of reconstructing African philosophy.
This intellectual inventory will enable us to up-date our journey too far
intellectually. If we do not take time to knot all our discussions together, we
may soon discover to our dismay how irretrievably far fields have strayed in
the wrong direction.

The second challenge is to explain
how we can cover the scope of African metaphysics within the ambit of this
work. Our view is to x-ray some literature and then see how we can make very
useful deductions from our study. This we see as feasible.

What is African Metaphysics?

Metaphysics apart from
its traditional and etymological definitions has diverse definitions given
differently by different scholars. However, in whatever way it is defined, it
should include the necessity for a universal outlook to ward reality. The word
“metaphysics’ which is said to have Greek origin is believed to have been first
used in the 4th century BC by the peripatetic. It was seen as the
science of being equal being. This means the study of reality from the point of
view of other beings. Parmenides is often referred to as the real enunciator of
western metaphysics before Socrates, Plato and Aristotle gave it a more
detailed and rigorous treatment. Down to Immanuel Kant, metaphysics became
divided into three major parts, namely; rational theology, rational cosmology
and rational psychology. For Martin Heidegger, all ontological inquiries have
missed the mark by not addressing satisfactorily the question of being.

Metaphysics includes both
transcends and particularisms of individual existence to focus on the
interrelationships of particulars within the universal. It is therefore a
philosophical outlook which tries to reach a more comprehensive, all-embracing,
totalistic view of reality without neglecting the unique place of individual
things in the holism of reality. So, in talking about reality, we are referring
to both disparate and homogenous outlooks. It may be an aspect of reality such
as properties, relations, individual beings, etc. it could be the examination
of being in a generic sense. What is important in each case is to reach general
and fundamental assumption that articulate a rationally acceptable world view
as far as such sphere of reality is concerned. Michael Loux’s Universals and
Particulars: Readings and Ontology captures the different areas of
concern of metaphysics. A.J. Ayer has succinctly defined metaphysics as that
branch of philosophical discourse which deals with the fundamental question
about the structure of reality. (23).

The etymological meaning
of metaphysics holds that metaphysics is derived from the Greek words Meta-Ta-Physika
meaning “after physics” or transcending the physical. Andronicus of
Rhodes, the Chronicler of Aristotle’s work on physical nature as metaphysics is
concerned with issues bordering on the extra-mental, spiritual, abstract,
universal or transcendental discipline. This cannot totally be said to be the
understanding metaphysics evidences. Like Immanuel Kant, we see Metaphysics as
concerning the totality of reality whether God as in rational theology; or man,
nature and the universe as in rational cosmology or mind and its ideas as in
rational psychology. However, these are not periscope wholly through a priori
concepts as some have opined but through the interplay of apriori
and aposteriori concepts or through experience and reason. Metaphysics
is a science that seeks ultimate understanding of reality.

Metaphysics is defined by
Collingwood as the science of pure being and as a science which deals with the
presuppositions underlying ordinary science. (12) Its procedure is to ignore
the differences between the individual thing and that individual and attend
only to what they have in common. Metaphysics deals with the nature of
existence. Metaphysics being the study of reality as a whole is concerned with
the generalization of experience for the purpose of identifying fundamental
entities. (Harold I). Metaphysics therefore involves a synthesis of all
experiences in order to achieve a coherent whole which gives a complete picture
of reality. It is in this latter sense that we intend to survey aspects of
African metaphysics to see how the disparate metaphysical objects of the
African people fit into a coherent metaphysical framework.

African metaphysics
should be seen as the African way of perceiving, interpreting and making
meaning out of interactions, among beings, and reality in general. It is the
totality of the African’s perception of reality. African metaphysics will
therefore include systematization of as African perspective as it relation to
being and existence. This will embrace the holistic conception of reality with
its appurtenance of relations, qualities, characterizations, being and its
subtleties universals, particular, ideas, minds, culture, logic, moral,
theories and presuppositions.

African Metaphysics is holistic and
interrelated. The logic of their metaphysics underpins their standard and
expectations. This is not to go with the impression that all African communities
share the same standard even though the standard is community based. Borrowing
from Quine, each community operates from a background theory that penetrates
its perception and metaphysics of reality. If you see thing other than the way
the community sees them, they will demean your understanding and systematize
with your “alienness.” What we intend to do is to abstract the general orientation
of the African in their metaphysics and general views about certain aspects of
reality. Here, we adumbrate the African’s perception of the following aspect of
reality, viz: personality, Being, Substance, Causality, immorality of the soul,
witchcraft, Appearance and Reality.

To preface this
examination, we aver that though we cannot really see African system as being
rooted in the analytic tradition of western philosophy, this is not to say that
African metaphysics is less rigorous. African metaphysics in the primeval time
due to their unwritten nature cannot provide us with a written rigorous
specimen of the metaphysics argumentation and analysis, nonetheless, the spirit
of rigour is not absent because every view is properly examined and seen to rationally
explain a cosmic puzzle before it is accepted. The Africans had a pragmatic
metaphysics, if an idea, an explanation, a conception a belief or folk wisdom worked;
it was accepted even though they may not fulfill certain fundamental criteria
of objective reality. This not withstanding, the Africans had far – reaching
thoughts about their environment, physical and transcendental phenomena with
which they are acquainted. If an idea worked, they still dug deep to unravel
through mystical means to ascertain the basic for such phenomenon in their
reality scheme. This means that the Africans are aware of the consequence of
superficial contemplation of their universe. They thought and tried as deeply
as their theoretical and experiential apparatus could aid them. Not having a
form of writing must have hindered serious reflective after – thought which
ruminating over written experiences can afford. A mere mental acquaintance with
reality cannot guarantee tenacity and longevity of ideas. The ideas evaporate and
new attempts are made from time to time to recapture the substance of previous
experience. But as J.I Omoregbe has opined, the African store their ideas in
form of folklores, folk wisdom, mythologies, traditional proverb, religious
world views, etc. (6). This enables them to examine more closely their views.
However, this form of preservation cannot be compared with documentation in
written form. Their experiences are tested in order to ascertain their truth.
These tests provide the Africans with clues as they continue their forays into
the wilderness of reality. It is therefore against such a background that
African metaphysical should be periscoped. Nothing is accepted without evidence
and reason. The reason may commit us to either empirical or rational
validation.

We can therefore say that
in African metaphysics, empiricism merges with rationalism. The cleavage
between empiricism and rationalism, if it exists at all is not a matter for
serious epistemological dispute. With this background, we shall examine
different concepts in order to show how they feature in African metaphysics.

Personality

Personality as a noun
concept means all the qualities and attributes that makes an individual a
distinct person. It includes one’s make-up or constituent parts, character,
conduct and personal idiosyncrasies. But personality in the context in which we
are viewing it is seen from the angle of what makes-up the human personality in
general and the significance of each constituent part. The western conception
of a person being a rational, moral, free, linguistic and social entity (36-38)
is taken for granted in the African metaphysics. In the western conception of
personality, a person is said to be made up of spirit, soul and body. The
spirit is usually said to be a higher principle in close link with the divine
order, while the soul is the go-between sandwiched between the spirit and
the body performing relational, regulative and communicative functions for both
the spirit and the body. Plato dwelt extensively on this subject. Talking of
the rational, spirited and appetitive parts of the soul which appropriately
should be seen as the part of the individual rather than the soul. The rational
represents the spirit, the spirited, the soul and the appetitive, the body.

But in the African
conception of personality, the initial problem is that of reaching a consensual
view as to the constituent parts or dimensions of human person. The Ibos, the
Yoruba’s of Nigeria and the Akans of Ghana have their
views of human personality. There exist some differences. In Igbo metaphysics,
we have three component parts of human person namely Ahu (body) Mkpuruobi
(soul) and Mmuo (spirit). (184-186) for the Igbo, a man is
simultaneously a physical and spiritual entity. However, it is his spirited
dimension that is eternal. In the Akan conception of personality, we witness
three variants of this conception-dualist, trichotomist and “pentachotomist”
positions. For instance, Wiredu holds a pentrachotomist view instantiated by
five parts of the human personality. We have the Nipadua (body), the Okra
(soul), Sunsum (spirit), Ntoro (character from father), Mogya (character
from mother).

Kwame Gyekye on his part
has noted that Akan conception of a person is thoroughly dualistic, not
tripartite. (200-208). With this, we have seen the Igbo trichotomistic view,
the pentachotomistic view of Wiredu and the dualistic view of Kwame Gyekye. For
Gyekye it is soul and body, that is Okra and Nipapadua (Honam) respectively.
The truth here is that the seeming disagreement as seen above is more apparent
than real. The views are collectively correct, that is, Wiredu’s
pentachotomistic view, Ibo trichotomic view and Gyekye’s dualistic view. The
problem lies in the need for further clarification and elucidation. To
understand the concept of a person, we have what we call “three fold categoreal
objectification”. The first level is the residual categoreal
objectification which has to do with the double aspect conception. Secondly, we
have the middle ranged categoreal objectification and finally, the
bloated categoreal objectification. The point is that all these views are
correct African perspectives on theory of human personality. (The residual
categoreal merely simplifies and reduces the conception to their two main broad
categorization, that is body (material) and spirit (immaterial). The tripartite
conception stresses the need to demarcate the spiritual elements into their
functional cleavages. The spirit is functionally different from the soul though
both are immaterial. The spiritual gets information directly from the creator
and transmits the same to the soul which in turn affects the body. On the
reverse side, the body first affects the soul and then the spirit. All these
happen in a matter of seconds. But in man’s fallen state, the soul and the
spirit are subject simultaneously to the caprice and control of the body. The
spirit of a rejuvenated man rejects the directive from the body via the soul.
The third and last categorization is the bloated categoreal objectification.
This view clearly objectifies the African man’s basis for interpreting a man’s
personality. I see man as earthly, that is, body and as biological, that is,
having input from parents. Man is a product of his maternal and paternal
lineagial roots. This explains why in most African communities, a man has a
right to seek for a place of abode both in his paternal and maternal families.
He is not regarded as a stranger in any of these places.

An African metaphysics
would not subscribe to the Humean and Russellian’s view that there is no
continuing self identity. Or, as William James has said that man is a stream of
consciousness, for the African, man has a continuing self – identity. This, the
Igbos call “mmuo”, that is, spirit. The ‘chi’ is the destiny which
can change depending on a number of factors like handwork, spiritual
fortification etc. Divine intervention can change a person’s ‘chi’ but
his spirit (mmuo) cannot be changed – it continues as an identical being
throughout existence. So in the Igbo metaphysics of personality, a man’s
essence is his ‘mmuo’ (spirit) which continues to exist even after
physical death. Existence of human personality is dual, earthly existence and
spiritual (eternal) existence. The body exists temporarily on earth while the
spirit continues to exist after death.

We have fairly elaborated
on the African conception of a person because it is the central nut that holds
other metaphysical world views together. Therefore, eclectically, African
conception of personality is multidimensional and yet streamlinable into a
simplified dualistic view of human personality. The African conception of
personality therefore embraces and transcends the western conception.

Being

Being is a generic term which represents all
existing things. The Africans conceive every thing as being. There is nothing
that exists that is taken lightly. The belief is that there is reason for
whatever is. Though man may not immediately know why a thing is created, but
they all serve a purpose. Being is therefore conceived as the whole range of,
existent things. The Africans have a hierarchy of being with God at the apex
followed by the ancestors, then, we have totems or emblems of hereditary
relationship followed by other spirits that are manipulated in the sorcery,
witchcraft or magic of certain ends. These are represented at times as charms and
amulets, then, we have man and finally, animal and plants as occupying the
lowest level. (Opoku 9 -10).

There is the argument in
some quarters that this hierarchy is not rigid. Because events can cause a
hitherto insignificant god or divinity to become so powerful that it assumes a
central place of reverence in the life of the community more than the
ancestors. The ancestors are revered because it is held that they are always
better disposed to the good of living. But other gods or divinities are highly
capricious and unpredictable. Plants and animals can be habited by powerful
forces which make them to become very prominent in the spiritual rating of the
society. This conception of being from the point of view of force is pervasive
in African conception of Being. This may have prompted Tempels to concentrate
his attention on this aspect to the neglect of other elements involved in
explaining the concept of being. Henri Maurier in a similar vein has suggested
the vitalist framework as most appropriate in understanding the African
conception of being. Vitalist here is seen in the sense of understanding being
in terms of force and interrelationship among these forces or beings. (Wright
35).

The above picture will
give the impression of a disordered universe of perennial strife among the
forces. Though there is, but this strife is controlled and regulated by the
unseen hand of the creator. The African believe that whatever happens cannot go
unnoticed by the omnipresent eyes of the creator. God being at the apex of the
hierarchy of beings oversees and regulates what goes on in the universe. God’s
supreme position is made clear in the African names of God. The Igbo for
instance call God Okaka-Amasi-Amasi and Chukwuokike meaning “one who is not
fully known, and the creator of the universe”. The Yorubas call Him Olodumare
meaning the Almighty God while the Akan people of Ghana call Him Onyame which means the
Supreme Being. (Opoku 34-35). In other words, God alone is full actuality and
infinite. Other beings are finite and limited. For the Africans, beings form an
intricate nexus of reality. Reality is seen both particularistically and
universalistically. But of ultimate importance to the Africans is how things
are holistically or the interconnections that exist among particular beings.

Substance

The notion of substance in the
African conception is closely related to the concepts of being and personality.
Unlike western conception of substance where substance is seen as a substratum
that sustains fleeting appearance or seen as the sum of all qualities or seen
as mere idea in the mind as in the case of Berkeley,
the Africans see substance as the quality of beingness which could be seen,
felt or divined through oracular means. What constitutes substances is the
evidence that a thing exist whether seen or unseen by the physical eyes. The
African does not go into the Berkeleyean and Lockean controversy of the
unknown. Somewhat, the idea in the mind and the totality of qualities. The
Africans for instance do not see spirits but they believe they exists, knowing
their qualities is immaterial. What is important is that there is ample
evidence that the activities of these spirits affect them favorably or
adversely. However, there is the belief that every being has its distinctive
qualities whether perceived or not.

Causality

For the Africans, the concept of causality is a
very central issue. The African life is permeated by the understanding that
nothing happens without a cause. The question that is asked is why must a
particular event happen to a particular person, at a particular place and in a
given time? This means that the concept of chance does not have a place is the
African Metaphysics. What we call chance is our ignorance of the series of
actions and reactions that have given rise to a given event. The corollary of
this view is to hold that the African man’s world is deterministically ordered
through and through. This is not true. The African cause and effect nexus still
permits the exercise of free-will. When a man is faced with alternative options,
he is free to choose to carry out one or the other. However, in certain cases,
the individual may find himself compelled by circumstances beyond his control
to choose one of the alternative options.

Again, we can say that
chance, determinism and freewill when properly understood can be seen as
different sides of the same coin. What we call chance is what happens
accidentally but yet traceable to a cause and a reason. What we call a
determined event is the aftermath of a freely committed act which has
consequently led to a determined cause and effect. It is like free will opens
the door of actions and then determinism takes its turn. Man is free therefore
to some extent and yet limited by his community. The African reality scheme is
said to be both individualistic and communitarian. (Maurier qtd in Wright
34-35). He is free to go against the wishes of the community but with the
accompanying sanctions. Through personal initiative, the individual can
exercise his freedom without coming into conflict with the collective will of
the community.

The African is not
troubled about the Humean gnoseological intricacies of necessary conditions for
causality namely, priority in time, constant conjunction, contiguity in time
and space and necessary connection. Neither do the Africans bother themselves
about the Cartesian problem of interactionism. It is rather taken for granted
that the body and the spirit though having different natures interact. As Sogolo
has aptly put it, “one of the puzzles that face those seeking to understand
traditional African belief system is how, in the explanation of observable
events, disembodied or non-extended entities (spirits), witches, ghosts, gods,
etc. Existing beyond the confines of space could possibly be invoked as causes.
This problem arises mainly due to the widespread mechanistic view of causality
where - - - necessary connection is assumed to exist between the cause and
effect, along Humean argument”. Sogolo 103-104). Sogolo maintains that the
conception of causality today is so loose and varied in meaning that what
counts as a causal explanation of an event would depend on factors such as the
nature of the event to be explained, our interest in the event, whether the
event has one cause or a multiplicity of necessary causes, whether, when the
causes are more than one, they can be compatibly invoked and finally whether
some of the causes are sufficient such that the others are unnecessary and
superfluous. (104). With the foregoing, it becomes clear that there are
different conceptions that could constitute causal explanation. We may not need
to examine the material, formal, efficient and final causes (as Aristotle posited)
in every case of causal explanation. The Africans look at cause and effect from
the point of view of imaginable range of possibilities or they resort to
oracles for the final verdict.

Immortality of the soul

The question of immortality of
the soul is not a controversial issue in African reality scheme. It is takes as
a truism. The soul of a man is immortal. It continues to exist after the
dissolution of the body. Its abode is determined by how well it lived here. If
a soul lived well, it will live in a special place of peace but if it lived
badly, it may be barred from having a resting place; it may continue to roam
the earth. However, all spirits are said to have direct contact with the
physical earth. This is why ancestral spirits are sacrificed to in the
understanding that they come to eat of the sacrifices. This shows that the
Christian concept of eternal separation between the living and the dead is not
agreeable to the African world view. The concept of heaven and hell is not well
delineated in the African conception.

The concept of
immortality is closely linked with re-incarnation. For the Africans, spirits
are reincarnated. Both good and bad spirits. The good spirits are welcomed
while the bad spirits called Abiku, Ogbanje, Ndem are either exorcised or
rejected. The Africans through divination or other esoteric means claim to be
capable of detecting which spirit has returned. The question at this point is,
does a human person have two spirits – one given by the creator and the other
represented by the incarnating spirit? The truth is that unregenerate man can
be inhabited by more than one spirit because the spirit of God in him is
inactive, but, at regeneration the spirit of God is quickened and the evil
spirits lose their hold on the person’s personality. A bad spirit may manifest
as the spirit of witchcraft, sorcery or necromancy.

Witchcraft

This leads us to the consideration of the notion of
witchcraft in African metaphysics. Witchcraft is the spiritual skill of being
able to carry on certain inimical activities in disembodied form. This could
include sucking of blood, eating, holding of meetings, causing accident or
inflicting pains or diseases. In Africa, there abound many proven cases of
the activity of witches and wizards. This shows us that African experience
surpasses the narrow causal explanatory framework of western philosophy. The
scientific model is therefore not absolute. There is the method of extra
sensory perception (ESP) which can be used by those so endowed to understand
the more complicated causal framework in which African experience fits.
Witchcraft is a real phenomenon. The study of spiritism, occultism, mysticism,
and cybernetics reveal that man is a carrier of great current of waves which
can be projected to bring about certain desired ends however, with some
limitations.

Conclusion

Finally, we say that
African metaphysics is a hotchpotch of beliefs and realities which are the outcome
of their lived experience. Appearance is not wholly reality to the African. The
physically perceptual level holds a different kind of reality while the
spiritually perceptible holds quite another level. Both are regarded as real in
a sense but in cases of conflict, the African will hold to such truths or
realities that have been corroborated and confirmed by spiritual means. At some
level, the Africans may adopt a seeing is believing attitude while at other
times they insist on consummate verification before they can believe. It
appears that all things are first taken to be real until proved otherwise. All
in all, we have cursorily examined the different dimensions and aspects of
African metaphysics but we want to add that these views are not static. In fact,
today hybrid metaphysics is fast becoming the order with African traditional
metaphysics merging with Christianity, Islam, Eastern religions and Western
conceptions of reality. This work is far from saying all that needs to be said,
it only intends to ignite more discussions on the idea of African metaphysics
and metaphysics in general.

Categories:

Tags:

There are too many errors in this book for unsophisticated readers. McLaren’s book has value only to readers who recognize the mistakes but are willing to learn about a position that springs from ideology and a theological framework. For me, the emerging church movement is enough to consider by itself without flawed economics intertwined